So The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare has now finished the third leg of its tour with a final week of practically sold out gigs at The John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, Norwich Arts Centre (Wed), Lakeside Theatre (Colchester), Diss Corn Hall and Walsham le Willows Village Hall.

Here is some of the feedback from the performance at Diss – and you can read a review of that event here:-

Very good in every respect, Excellent play, really enjoyed, Excellent, Fantastic, play excellent as always with EA, Superb, really good again, great performance, excellent play, good, very good, getting better!

Superb….makes you catch your breath (The Times) Gripping, intelligent and acted with verve (The Guardian)

‘Richard Sandells is superb as patient and poet, one moment shuddering in painful delusion, the next becoming, in accent and demeanour, the troubled poet’ -The Times

The Long Life and Great Good Fortune of John Clare explores ‘the positive and destructive power of love and loss’ (Public Reviews) by telling the story of a man, John, who believes he is the ‘peasant poet’John Clare. First commissioned by John Clare Cottage back in 2012 for a handful of moving performances in the poets own home, the show has now grown to become a beautiful and tender full length piece.

**** THE TIMES ****1/2 PUBLIC REVIEWS **** WHATS ON STAGE

The show builds to ‘ a final symbolic act which is one of the finest moments of theatre I’ve seen in a long while’ ’You should see this fine piece of work for yourself ‘ Michael Gray’s Theatre Blog

Richard Sandell’s returns to play the central role of John

a compelling, fascinating and dramatic evening in the theatre’ The Stage

Richard Sandell’s performance is perfectly pitched. Never overplayed or sensationalist, this is a performance of pure emotion (Public Reviews) Sandells as John is immensely moving [and] horrifyingly credible (Whats on Stage) Richard Sandells is outstanding (The Stage)

Also reprising her role as Melody and Clare’s long suffering wife is Louise Mai Newberry . Richard and Louise-Mai are joined by new cast member Robert Jackson, who Eastern Angles regulars will remember for his portrayal of Peter in Parkway Dreams.

You can listen to playwright Tony Ramsay (@ramsaytony) talking about the production here with Foz (@stephenfoz) on @bbcradiosuffolk, followed by a wonderful You Tube of Richard Burton reading Autumn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICtG-bBCb0g

It’s not just Eastern Angles who have been inspired by John Clare. It seems John Clare is everywhere at the moment a recentWords and Music programme over on Radio 3 latest programme ‘The Village Minstrel’ was inspired by John Clare. The programme blurb reads ‘ John Clare won fame in his own lifetime as the ‘peasant poet’, but has long been appreciated in his own right as one of the most important poetic voices of the 19th century. It’s well worth a listen.

And over Clare Cottage (where our John Clare play also premiered) was the location for the launch of Roger Rowe and Anne Lee’s limited edition, handmade book of Clare’s The Lovers Meeting, more info on that over here.